Istanbul mayoral hopefuls spar in rare debate With a week to go before Istanbul votes again, the opposition’s candidate Ekrem Imamoglu and ruling party's Binali Yildirim sought to consolidate support in the country’s first televised debate in nearly two decades. Turkey
Iran’s women’s movement, civil society come under ‘maximum pressure’ While the declared aim of Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran is to pressure the Islamic Republic to alter its policies, Iranian women and civil society are also being subjected to extreme constraints. United States
Iran announces it will soon exceed nuclear deal limits Iran has announced that in 10 days it will exceed the 300-kilogram limit on its stockpile of low-enriched uranium. United States
Despite European protection offers, Turkey still wants S-400 Turkey is unlikely to be swayed from buying Russian S-400 missile defense systems, even if some European countries continue their defense of Turkish air space. Syria
Turkey’s olive branches have prickly effect on Saudis Grappling with serious economic woes, Turkey is seeking to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia, but some of its fence-mending have badly backfired. Saudi Arabia
Gazans get VIP treatment at Egyptian border An Egyptian travel agency has launched a new paid VIP travel service for Gazans who wish to use the Rafah border crossing hassle-free. Palestine
Will Israel’s Meretz officially become a Jewish-Arab party? Following its poor results in the April elections, left-wing Meretz considers establishing Jewish-Arab co-leadership for the party. Israel
Meet the mother of three who is Egypt's first female maestro Eman Genedy has conducted several orchestras and made a name for herself in a conservative society that frowns upon women singing, let alone conducting an orchestra. Egypt
Jordan likely to attend Bahrain summit despite reservations A US official recently said that Jordan, along with Egypt and Morocco, will attend the Bahrain economic workshop aimed at attracting investments to the Palestinian territories, but Jordanian officials have yet to confirm the reports. Palestine
Iranian hard-liners praise taxi driver for booting passenger over 'poor' hijab Divisions in Iranian society over the country's hijab laws are being exposed in a massive backlash over a taxi driver's clash with a female passenger he found in violation of veiling norms. Iran
Iran’s Reformists teetering on electoral boycott as polls approach Faced with declining social capital, Iran’s Reformists are wary of electoral participation without requisite political authority. Iran
Annexing East Jerusalem, first step before annexing the West Bank? According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan, Israel will exclude some Palestinian neighborhoods from the Greater Jerusalem municipality, while annexing other East Jerusalem neighborhoods. Palestine
Egypt to launch another round of Palestinian negotiations Egypt is willing take another shot at unifying Palestinian factions, but no one seems to be getting their hopes up about the outcome. Palestine
Egypt’s Al-Azhar retreats from fatwa on beating women Al-Azhar's Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb ruled that women cannot leave the house without their husbands’ permission and may be beaten as long as no bones are broken, sparking an uproar in Egypt. Egypt
Elections expose the Pandora’s box of Israel’s religious right The ideological differences and open hostility among the national religious and ultra-Orthodox parties exposed by the April elections could backfire on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to call for new elections, in September. Israel
How Russia plans to take part in building Syria's IT sector As Syria seeks to restore some of its damaged IT facilites and build "an information society" in the country, Russian companies consider opportunities to chip in. Syria
